Tariffs: You Fell For It

Trump campaigned on how tariffs were a great thing that would make the country rich. Of course, anyone with even a middle school understanding of economics knows this to be garbage. Tariffs raise prices for US consumers and transfer their money to the government. It’s a tax. Oh, tariffs also tend to cause recessions.

So it wasn’t a surprise that Trump slapped a tariff on Mexico, Canada, and China right away. Except he didn’t. Just before the midnight deadline he “struck a deal” with them to delay the tariffs. The deal was nothing but restating things they were already doing. Great negotiating, right?

But wait a minute! I thought tariffs were great and would help the country be rich. That’s what Trump told us. So if that’s the case, then why did he cancel them? He admitted the tariffs would cause pain for the country and that’s why he made the imaginary “deals”.

Now we know. Tariffs were always a bad thing for the country and he knew it. But voters believed him. And now the voters are turning themselves into pretzels trying to explain why tariffs are not needed. Just admit you were fooled.